The Main Building of The University of Hong Kong is the oldest structure on the campus, which was donated to the university by Sir Hormusjee Nawrojee Mody, a well-known Parsi businessman and philanthropist. Construction of the building started in 1910 and was completed in 1912. Following the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941, the Main Building was used as a temporary hospital. It was seriously damaged during the final stages of the Japanese Occupation (1941-1945), and university classes did not resume there until October 1946.

Classical in style, this well-proportioned, three-storey red-brick building supported by granite columns of the Ionic order is designed symmetrically around the central axis of the clock tower and features pairs of turrets at both ends of the principal facade. Pediments surmount the entrance portico and the elevations of the east and west wings.